Mia Hamm’s Relative Achievements

Over at Coudal Partners, somebody referred to Mia Hamm as “one of the greatest athletes ever”. They’re smoking the patriotic crack. She’s a great human being, and has done a lot for her sport, but that flattering unction is deeply premature.

Women’s football is only beginning to come into its own. As such, comparing achievements in the sport to other sports is deeply premature. It’s a bit like calling Roger Bannister the greatest runner of all time, despite the fact that his record has been eclipsed by 15 seconds in the last 50 years.

Throughout her 17 year career (an admirable achievement in a sport as brutal and high-paced as football), the US team was treated to frequent lopsided games. In 1991, they won two games by scores of 12-0. In 1995 (to pick another year), they beat teams by scores of 9-0, 9-1 and 7-0. There have only been 5 women’s football world cups. The fourth, in 1999, only had 16 teams, and the USA beat its opponents by a combined score of 16-1 in the first round of the tournament.

Despite playing at a much more challenging time (women’s football has come a long way in the past decade), Hamm’s teammate Abby Wambach is scoring at a much faster rate than Hamm ever did. Hamm retired with 158 goals in 276 international appearances. At 24, Wambach has 45 goals in 55 games, so with longevity she could easily equal or surpass Hamm’s achievements. Canada’s own Christine Sinclair, only 21 years old, has 49 goals in 66 appearances, could easily do likewise.

In fifty years, we’ll remember Hamm as an important foremother (can one say that?) of women’s soccer. We’ll remember her not for her athletic achievements–impressive, but hardly the stuff of legend–but for her dedication to her sport.